The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 9:10-22 comments: Paul and Ananias

 

Acts 9:10 ¶  And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 11  And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, 12  And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 13  Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14  And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. 15  But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. 17  And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. 18  And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. 19  And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20  And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. 21  But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? 22  But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.

 

Ananias, not to be confused with the doomed man of Acts 5, receives orders from God to minister to the sworn enemy of the Christians. This was not only a shock but probably caused some fear and uncertainty.

 

The street that is called Straight is the old Decumanus Maximus, the main Roman road that ran east to west through the old city of Damascus. Paul is from Tarsus, a city in Cilicia on the Southerneastern coast of today’s country of Turkey and the Mediterranean. 

 

Acts 21:39  But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.

 

Along with the gift of tongues, that is, speaking in a language that one has neither experience or training in is the early church’s gift of healing by the laying on of hands. First, here is the definition of tongues.

 

Acts 2:5 ¶  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9  Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10  Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11  Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

 

Then, the ability by some to lay hands on someone to heal them of a sickness much in the same way that Jesus did.

 

Luke 4:40  Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

 

These gifts of the apostolic church, particularly tongues and healing, were methods by which God sort of jump-started the early church and made it much more than a philosophy in the minds of the common people. Although God can heal a person, if it is His will, in many ways it does not appear that this ability in disciples lasted much longer than the time of the Apostles. Faith-healers of today are almost unanimously shown to be fakes. If a person truly had the gift of healing by the laying on of his or her hands they would go to a children’s cancer ward if they had any Christian mercy in them and just walk down the line healing left and right.

 

Verse 15 shows that Paul’s commission originally was not only to Gentiles, but kings, and also the Jews. We will see this happen here in Acts and then we will see his frustration at trying to witness to his own people. He will say that he is no longer going to the Jews in Acts 18:6 and yet will continue to try to preach to them, which will cause him no end of trouble. Notice that Peter also declares his mission to the Gentiles in Acts 15:7.

 

For examples, Paul preaches to the non-Jewish crowd who worship Greek gods at Lystra in Acts 14:8-18, then to a king in Acts 26, and several times he attempts to preach to the Jews who are either hostile or clueless as in the final chapter of Acts. Finally, he declares in his writing in Romans 11:13 that he is the minister to the Gentiles.

 

 See my comments on Acts 2:37-41 regarding the order in which a person is saved, baptized, and in receipt of the Holy Ghost.

 

Paul almost immediately begins preaching Christ to the Jews in the local synagogues and was very successful, perhaps unanswerable in his arguments. This greatly amazes people as he was just earlier persecuting the Christian sect of Judaism.